(slightly older variation of the same robot, it still is 100% possible)
Our robot features:
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*]High-torque drive motors externally geared up for speed
*]4 x 269 motors moving the arm allow the arm to stay still without a control loop (a use for the locking of some of them); lets the robot be still with no power applied to the motors
*]Ability to hold 7 objects if 100% optimal and placed manually
*]Ability to score on high goals without necessarily being right upon them
*]Ability to intake sideways barrels (takes a tiny bit longer for them to actually make into the intake, but it does make it)
*]Can score backwards into the opponent’s isolation mid-height goal and the center high goal from the isolation zone
*]Precision in movement and rotation thanks to an accurate control loop (velocity control, positional control, and gyro control are all various control loops one may wish to issue to run a particular task; vel for joystick, pos for autonomous, and gyro for both) (our programmer is a genius!)
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We only competed in two competitions this year, both with a previous iteration of this design. So this specific robot hasn’t competed anywhere yet.
With our previous design we won more than half our matches and came in second place in the drivers skills challenge at our first competition despite the fact that our drive stalled out halfway through every match. This new design is much lighter and is no longer prone to stall.
We can pick up 4-5 objects during match play and match load 7. With our current strategy we don’t intend to hold much more than 3 objects after autonomous.
We can pick up objects in any orientation.
We have 4 393s on our drive geared internally for torque then externally geared using 12:18 for speed (only slightly slower than 393s geared for speed).
The curved plates are for keeping the objects secure in the intake, otherwise the objects will occasionally fall out.
We can descore from any goal lower than the 30" goal.
We are currently working on developing strategies for autonomous and working on implementing them. We plan to have multiple modes for each zone.
As my team’s programmer comes and sneaks up on me with his post, he did answer the questions accurately. We can descore objects that aren’t in the high goals and aren’t just barely over the top.
We compete well when our motors don’t stall; our previous robot’s combination of weight and high-speed 393s made them more likely to stall when the driver accidentally keeps driving into a wall. This iteration will still do so, but the slightly less intensive gearing allows a heavy robot to have a higher threshold for such. The problem is primarily a driver issue, which is one point we are stressing as much as we can.
The curved plates help align diagonal objects feed into the intake normal as well as keep them from falling out. The method I chose is to leave a gap in the middle to make it easier to get a couple objects into the opponent’s isolation goal (a flat plate would limit the angle it could go down because of the goal’s sides). It also takes advantage of the lightweight aluminum plates while providing a lengthy block on the top.
We have strategies and old code for autonomous modes in all four positions, but since the shift from the winch design, it needs to be changed. In addition, we have since obtained a gyro and developed more accurate control loops that will make it much easier to develop an autonomous mode quickly. The old modes were very simplistic modes that almost every other autonomous had a variation of; the newer code allows for faster and more accurate movements.
This particular robot has not competed anywhere yet. Before we had a slightly different design. We might have some videos of that version, but it always stalled in the middle of the match, and was not very effective (that has been fixed).
I hope to have some video of some practice matches or atleast have the robot running on the field simulating a match sometime tomorrow or thursday.
